Darkness and Guilt
by LoonRider
Summary: The shadows that blanket the world make no changes for Ignis. The lingering feelings of someone once so close to him, however, do. Oneshot. Somewhat Gladio/Ignis.


**What even is the name for this pairing. Gladionis? Ignio? I got nothing. But with the events of chapter 9 and everything... well, it begged to be written.**

Spoilers: Late-game. Takes place during the ten years of darkness.

#

The endless night didn't bother him as much as it should have. Maybe it was because it levelled the playing field. Now everyone else was almost as blind as he was.

Ignis hated thinking like that, sometimes. He knew it was spite that formed these thoughts, and he never gave voice to them, but still he felt guilty for having even a modicum of appreciation for the darkness. He missed daylight. He missed the faint way it affected his eyes. He missed feeling the sun on his face.

But still the thoughts persisted. When fellow hunters cursed the darkness for making them miss a target or stumble, he felt smug. He'd been coping with that for months before the darkness came, and now he reaped some benefits of it.

"Iggy." A gruff voice broke him from his thoughts, but he didn't jump. Even if he and Gladiolus weren't constantly in each other's company any more, he knew the man's voice anywhere. He turned in his chair, in the lobby of the Leville, bringing himself in line with the sound of Gladiolus settling into a chair opposite him.

"Gladio. Back so soon?" Last he'd heard, the man had been off looking for a group of refugees they'd picked up a radio signal from a few days ago. Even three years on since the darkness fell, refugees were coming into Lestallum as other towns failed. He heard another shuffle: Gladiolus was shifting his weight around. He was uneasy.

"Yeah. Found the group, but also found out a few people got split from them a ways into the desert. We had to bring back the ones we found; too dangerous wandering around with a group of civilians, but Dustin took a bad hit." There was guilt in his voice. Ever since Noctis had... ever since Gralea, Gladiolus had been taking it harder and harder when people got hurt under his watch, even if it wasn't his fault. Ignis understood why.

The same reason his heart felt heavier when he, Gladiolus, and Prompto were together. The same reason Prompto sometimes sighed when shuffling through pictures, coming across one of the man they all missed so terribly.

He re-focused on Gladiolus in time to hear the continuation of his words. "Monica won't go out again until she knows Dustin's gonna be okay. Iris is out at Hammerhead with Cindy and Prompto, so I thought..."

"You want to find out if anyone that was lost from the group has survived?" Ignis guessed. A pause before he heard a frustrated sigh. He figured Gladiolus had nodded and taken a second to realize he couldn't see it.

"Sorry," was the mumble that confirmed his guess. He supposed it was comforting, in a way, that people forgot about his disability even after this long. Gladiolus continued in a normal tone, then. "But yeah, I wanna go out searching as soon as I can. I thought, if you're up for it..."

"Absolutely." There was no hesitation. If there was someone who needed help out there, Ignis was not about to force them to fend for themselves. Not if they could help. Even if he preferred avoiding the memories and emotions that being around Gladiolus (or Prompto) entailed, it wasn't enough of a deterrent to people needing aid.

—

Surprisingly, getting to the location was easy. The most they had to deal with was a crowd of hobgoblins that was dispatched easily enough. Ignis was proud of himself; he wasn't back to his peak, but he was no longer the burden he'd been when initially blinded. He knew Gladiolus wouldn't have asked him for help if he were still at that level.

Now the two of them crouched on a rocky outcropping, having followed the trails of both humans and monsters to a small cave on the other side of the ridge they sat on.

"Looks like they've been holding the daemons off with guns," Gladiolus reported, Ignis hearing hissing and cackling from the other side with the occasional report of what sounded like a rifle. "Bound to run out of ammo soon... surprised they haven't already."

"And our foes?" Ignis had some guesses, but he wanted concrete answers. He wanted to be sure.

"Hoard of goblins... and one naga. Good thing Prompto's not here." There was a chuckle in his voice, and Ignis' lips pulled into a smile despite himself.

"Right, she's the problem then." He drew his daggers, feeling that familiar emptiness where once the power loaned by Noctis had rested. He'd gotten used to carrying his weapons in sheaths, but it was a constant reminder of what was missing.

"Mhm." He felt the shift of air of Gladiolus drawing his greatsword. "She's over the ridge, 12 o'clock, straight hit to her body. About three goblins along the path. I'll try to keep them off your back."

"Sounds excellent." Ignis nodded, shifting his grip on his weapons. "And with any luck, these frightened people won't shoot their rescuers."

"Here's hoping." And then there were no more words, the two of them leaping down from the ridge and charging forward. Gladiolus' battle cry was followed by a sharp woosh and several shrieks as his greatsword carved into the goblins.

Ignis heard a cackle in front of him and opened with a cross-slash, rewarded by the resistance of daemon flesh on his right dagger. He thrust, and the offending creature flew away from him. A scraping from the left, and he jumped, felt something clip his right foot but managed to land properly. He slashed out, and heard a shriek that could only be the naga as his dagger bit flesh once again.

He brought his daggers in, protecting his centre as he listened to the giant serpent shift. She spoke in that garbled, hissing voice characteristic of her kind, but he paid no attention to her words. A shift to his side and he jumped back, cutting out again and hearing a yowl as he carved into her tail. Then he jumped, left foot planting on her scales and kicking off. He felt her breath on his face and slashed. She screeched, and must have writhed because the next thing he knew a massive weight crashed into his side, slamming him into the ground and knocking the breath from his lungs.

His head spun. Had to get up, couldn't let her get the drop on him. More hissing. She was right on top of him!

A bellow split the air and the looming presence of the naga disappeared as she screeched again. The ground shook as her massive weight crashed down, and then he heard Gladiolus grunt with effort. Holding her back? "Iggy, ten o'clock! Slash high!"

He gained his feet and lunged as directed, cutting in with both daggers. He felt the resistance as they bit deep and put his strength into it, ripping both blades free and hearing the gurgle as he severed the beast's neck. Hissing and burbling followed, and he knew they'd won. He sheathed his daggers and felt Gladiolus hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Fine. Thank you."

The hand retreated. "Couldn't let you down again, could I?"

Ignis frowned, sightless gaze naturally turning to Gladiolus. Any thought of asking what he meant vanished when he heard the crunch of approaching footsteps and a new voice came to his ears.

"Um... th... thank you. We were just about done, there..."

"Don't mention it." Gladiolus brushed them off, and Ignis could easily picture the big man waving his hand dismissively. "Come on. We can escort you guys to Lestallum."

—

It was a long walk and a joyful reunion between refugees later. Ignis had helped negotiate space for the new arrivals and had returned to resting in the Leville's lobby when he heard Gladiolus again. "Thanks for the help."

"No trouble at all." He allowed himself a smile. "You checked on Dustin, I assume?"

"Yeah. Seems like he'll pull through."

"Good to hear." He heard the man shift to walk away, and couldn't stop himself. "Gladio."

A pause. "Yeah?"

"Out there... when you said you couldn't let me down again, what did you mean?"

A longer pause, but this wasn't broken by words. Instead, Ignis felt something near his face. He almost pulled away before he realized it was Gladiolus' calloused hand, and the fingers brushed under his eye, against the most prominent of his scars. "... Gladio?"

"I should've been there. You needed help, and I wasn't there..." The hand started to draw back, and Ignis brought his own up, catching the bigger man's wrist. He'd suspected. Of course he had. With the way Gladiolus had reacted, the anger he'd lashed out at Noctis with, how could he not have? But he'd never have thought the man carried that guilt even now.

"You had your own responsibilities. It was never your duty to protect me."

He felt Gladiolus tug against his grip, not nearly hard enought to pull free. He hated imagining the look on the man's face. "Not officially." Another shift, and Gladiolus' fingers brushed his face once again. "Damn it, Iggy, you were always taking care of us, and the one time... the one time I could've been of real use to you, I was nowhere near you."

"Enough, Gladio." Ignis moved his hand higher, let his fingers encircle the calloused ones against his face. "My injury was never your fault. You can't take the blame for everything that goes wrong."

"I don't—" Ignis tightened his grip, and Gladiolus sighed. "Okay, fine, maybe I do."

"You most certainly do." He let his thumb brush over the back of Gladiolus' hand. "And you shouldn't."

Silence between them for a long moment, and then Gladiolus gently squeezed his hand before letting go. "I'll work on that."


End file.
